I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more I have these little "mind freak" moments where what was abruptly crashes in on what is ...

Today's example: I glanced at the box scores this morning to see how the Mets made out in a spring training game, and I noticed a guy named "Figueroa" had pitched. "Hey, he's still pitching?" I asked myself, and for a second I felt a little wash of familiarity ... until I realized the "Figueroa" I was thinking about was Ed Figueroa, who played for the Angels and the Yankees in the late 1970s, and last pitched in an MLB game in 1981 ... a guy who'll turn 60 later this month.

It only took a few seconds before I got traction, before I realized the Figueroa on the Mets is named Nelson and was born in the 1970s, not the 1940s.But there was that strange split-second of generations crashing together ... and maybe, upon hearing that, you'll think I'm simply out of my mind.